Methodology.

The four-tier source hierarchy

Tier 1 — Government & utility primary sources. Visayan Electric (VECO) rate announcements, MCWD tariff bulletins, the Bureau of Immigration, the Philippine Retirement Authority, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Reference Exchange Rate Bulletin, BIR Revenue Regulations, PSA family-income surveys, and PAGASA. These are cited directly with a link and a sampling date.

Tier 2 — Verified institutional secondaries. PhilHealth, named HMOs and hospitals, BPI/BDO/Wise/remittance rate cards, ISP published plans (Converge, PLDT, Globe), and reputable outlets that quote a primary (Philstar/The Freeman, SunStar Cebu, Manila Bulletin). These corroborate Tier 1 and fill gaps where no primary publishes.

Tier 3 — Active listings & market observation. Lamudi, Dot Property, Rentpad, and MyProperty active asking rents, cross-checked across portals — the basis for the Cebu Rent Index. Asking rent is labeled as asking rent, never as transacted rent.

Tier 4 — Resident reporting. Ground-level observations: palengke prices, jeepney routes verified by riding them, ER triage realities, condo dues from named buildings. Tier-4 figures are always labeled as observation, never as a published rate.

How prices appear on the site

• Every price is a timestamped range, never a single number. The range covers realistic variation across the sampling window.
• Prices carry an explicit as of date shown beside the figure. A figure with no visible timestamp is sourced from the Tier-1 government page linked in that paragraph.
• Where a sample is small (a niche barangay, one building's lease history) we say so in the same sentence — sample size is published as a feature, not hidden as a footnote.

Calculator methodology

Every calculator ships with a methodology accordion that states the rate base, the exact formula, the dated constants (read live from the validated data ledger, so the page can never silently drift from the math), a worked example you can reproduce by hand, the assumptions, and the known limits. The same numbers appear in the on-page example, the calculator itself, the data ledger, and the automated checks — one source of truth, four surfaces.

Calculators are reviewed when an underlying rate publishes a new number, or every quarter at minimum. If a ledger ages past its hard staleness limit, the build test fails and the tool's verified stamp switches to a warning — staleness cannot ship silently.

The data ledger — what is live today

These named series are dated, sourced, automatically validated at build, and accumulate over time. Current state:

• Cebu Utility Rate Series — VECO. All-in residential ₱/kWh. ₱12.57/kWh, as of 2026-04. 8 dated points on record (2025-02 → 2026-04). Visayan Electric official, April 2026 cycle. Reviewed monthly (rate moves with WESM).
• Cebu Utility Rate Series — MCWD. Tariff: minimum ₱259.16/10 cu.m, then tiered. As of 2026-04 (final approved tranche, effective 2026-04-01). MCWD via Philstar / The Freeman — final 10% tranche, effective 2026-04-01. Reviewed on revision.
• FX Rate Series (BSP). PHP per unit of USD/EUR/GBP/AUD/CAD, Reference Exchange Rate Bulletin basis. As of 2026-05-08. BSP Reference Exchange Rate Bulletin, 08 May 2026 (Reuters NY close 07 May 2026). Reviewed monthly.
• LiveInPH Cebu Rent Index. Asking-rent ranges by neighborhood × unit type, 21 segments. As of 2026-05 — editorial-baseline. This is an honest baseline, not yet a measured panel: n is left blank until a real listing sample exists, and p25/p75 are deliberately omitted rather than fabricated from a range. No trend renders until two real quarters are collected.

The VECO series is the one with enough real periods to draw. It is shown exactly as the rule below requires — a step line over observed billing cycles, with its full data table beside it:

Charts, trends, and the no-fabrication rule

Every visual is decoration over a sourced table — never a substitute for one. The rules are enforced in code, not just stated here:

• The table is canonical. Each chart sits beside a server-rendered data table, so the full figures are present with scripting off or to an AI reading the page.
• No invented points. A missing value stays blank — never interpolated or back-filled to make a line look complete. The snapshot script refuses to overwrite or fill.
• A trend is worth its quarters. A time-series chart renders only once enough real periods exist; below that, an explicit baseline state and no line. A longitudinal claim is worth exactly the number of periods actually collected, and not one more.

Editorial review cadence

What LiveInPH does not do

• No re-quoted crowd averages presented as our own. We publish the sample, the window, and the method, or we do not publish the figure.
• No fabricated history. A point that was not observed stays null — we never interpolate a panel into existence.
• No affiliate-driven recommendations. No paid placement for named buildings, landlords, banks, or ISPs.

See the calculators for the per-tool methodology accordions, and the disclaimer for the limits of all of this. Questions about a specific figure: contact us.